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 MARS-RERC

 MARS-RERC  RIC patient using MARS-RERC

Machines Assisting Recovery from Stroke (MARS) is a center of excellence established by funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research's (NIDRR) Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) program . Our research focuses on robots for rehabilitation therapy after hemispheric stroke, which is the most common neurological disorder that requires intensive and prolonged rehabilitation. Devices that assist the therapist in providing rationally based, intensive and long duration stroke treatments can also be used to monitor progress and help improve functional performance.

The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, together with its multi-national partners at Northwestern University , University of Illinois at Chicago , Illinois Institute of Technology ,   University of California at Irvine , ETH in Zurich  and INAOE, Puebla, Mexico make up a multicenter effort to use robots to explore new approaches that improve functional outcomes during either reach-and-grasp or full body locomotion activities. There are six key development, research and training subprojects of intensive study:

Research training is a critical component that includes medical students, residents, physical therapists, occupational therapists and graduate students in engineering and neuroscience. We will leverage the RIC Academy for continuing education, on-site training and archived web-based presentations network.

MARS-RERC sponsors the Rehabilitation Robotics list server REHABROBOTICS, which is the electronic mailing list for disseminating information to large numbers of people with interests in Rehabilitation Robotics. Join to subscribe to the rehabrobotics mailing list.

Watch the MARS slideshow from the National Director's Meeting , May 2008.

Archive of previous grant

This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) , Grant Number #H133E070013.

News in 2009

November 20

At the IEEE 11th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)  in Kyoto, Japan, Heike Vallery received the Best Presentation Award for her presentation,  Generalized Elasticities Improve Patient-Cooperative Control of Rehabilitation Robots.

November 15

KineAssist Publicity:  http://www.robotspodcast.com   we will demo at RIC's Skyrise event.

September

3DVIA Virtools assists the recovery program of patients severely injured at the hands, Read full article

MARS technology is translated to another hospital: The KineAssist® is now being used in the clinic at Alexian Brothers hospital in western suburban Chicago:
Read full story

Doctors Rymer and Patton were recently featured on IEEE TV, in a special roundtable discussion on recent advancements in biomedical engineering in the treatment of serious neurological disorders during the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) 31st Annual International Conference (EMBC'09) in Minneapolis. Watch the clip

July 20

The Museum of Science and Industry’s Science Chicago is a year-long celebration of world-class scientific discoveries advanced right here in Chicago. Read the World of Biorobotics

May14

Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director Dan Grant, thanks researcher Dr. Jim Patton for demonstrating a research protocol utilizing robotics and virtual reality to enhance cognitive rehabilitation for traumatic brain injuries. 

May 01

Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation has a new video that highlights the potential of robotics in Cerebral Palsy, Robotics - A New Hope In Cerebral Palsy.

April 18

RIC Academy is holding a Symposium on Stroke in Women .  More information availabele at www.ricacademy.com.  See the brochure.

February 16

Stroke & heart disease death rates are down:  A new report published in the journal Circulation says 30 percent this decade, in fact. Good news, but the report warns about higher obesity changing this. Read the entire article .

February 10

RIC Technology Showcased on Discovery Channel    A special on the KineAssist – a walking-support therapy robot – recently aired on the Discovery Channel highlighting RIC’s crucial role in its development. The KineAssist was created at RIC in response to the needs of stroke patients who were relearning to walk but whose fear of falling inhibited their progress. 

January 31

Daria Tsoupikova, (UIC/EVL), Nikolay Stoykov. PhD. (RIC), Randy M. Vick. MS. ATR-BC. LCPC. (SAIC) presented the current status of development of the VR environment at the annual conference of the Illinois Art Therapy Association (IATA). The Power of Image, Brain, and Hand in Rehabilitation

Complete list of news about MARS-RERC .

 

Page Updated Wednesday, October 28, 2009